Floating Magnet

It turns out that it’s impossible to levitate a magnet free-air, thanks to Earnshaw's Theorem. This project gets around that problem with a few guiderails. I used some old bulky speaker magnets to make this, one in the base and two in the capsule (with polarities reversed to repel). When pushed up or down and released, the weight bounces up and down.

It would be fun to machine a version with smooth sliding bearings, as friction is the only dissipating force for the harmonic motion of the weight.

I like this alot also….. I see this as one of those distracting, thought provoking, desktop items, similar to the suspended ball bearing, kinetic energy models. Additional views would be nice. Maybe one from the side showing the levitation height. I suppose if it had to be made to have a practical purpose, you could have the silver colored rings machined in such a way that they hold photos. But I like it as it is… Nicely done!

Well, one quick way to reduce the friction to is to put a curve on the metal bands of the capsule. If you could find a band that bulged out so that the middle of the band was sticking out a little further then the top and bottom. Then you would just have a small surface contact with the middle of the band and the rods.

Or design a new setup that used a single rod through the middle of the capsule to holp it in place rather then 4 outside rods.

-- Turning good wood into even better wood jewelry. DWWoodCreations.com